Sabalenka defeats Zheng for seventh time to reach Roland Garros semifinals

No. 1 seed Aryna Sabalenka resumed normal service against No. 8 seed Zheng Qinwen in the Roland Garros quarterfinals, coming from 4-2 down in the first set to reach her seventh semifinal of the season 7-6(3), 6-3.

Sabalenka advances to her 11th major semifinal overall -- the most of any player since Maria Sharapova hit that mark at Roland Garros 2011 -- and her second in Paris following her run in 2023, which ended in a three-set loss to Karolina Muchova. She will bid to reach her sixth Grand Slam final, and first at Roland Garros, against No. 5 seed Iga Swiatek in the 13th installment of their rivalry.

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Until last month, Sabalenka had a stranglehold on her rivalry with Zheng, winning their first six encounters for the loss of just one set, in last year's Wuhan final. But in their first clay-court meeting in the Rome quarterfinals, Zheng got on the board in emphatic style, notching her first win in the series 6-4, 6-3.

Had Zheng cracked the code? Was clay the key for her to turn the head-to-head around? Sabalenka had shrugged off the Rome loss after defeating Amanda Anisimova in the fourth round.

"I have to say I was pretty exhausted in Rome," she said. "Honestly, I was playing the tournament constantly thinking I shouldn't be playing and I needed a little rest before Roland Garros."

In her on-court interview, Sabalenka confirmed that she was back at full strength in Paris.

"I was actually glad I lost that match, because I needed a little break before Roland Garros," she told Marion Bartoli. "Today I was just more fresh. I was ready to battle, I was ready to fight, I was ready to leave everything I had on court to get this win."

Indeed, the World No. 1 delivered a sharper performance to get back to winning ways against Zheng -- the first Top 10 win of her career at Roland Garros (compared to six at the Australian and US Opens combined). The Chinese player had the upper hand early on, but squandered her opportunities to press home her advantage.

Squandered chances: Bolstered by her Rome win, Zheng came out of the blocks swinging freely with a clear strategy: to shorten points and take control from the baseline. She broke Sabalenka in the third game thanks to a delicate drop-volley and a pair of swashbuckling forehand winners.

Sabalenka's drop shots, which she has added to her clay-court game to superb effect over the past few seasons, was also below par. All of her attempts in the first set landed closer to the service line than the net -- though, foreshadowing what was to come, Zheng still made several errors despite reaching them in good time.

At 4-2, 30-15, Zheng coughed up consecutive double faults, opening the door for Sabalenka to get back into the set. The three-time major champion kicked through it in customary style, hammering a backhand winner down the line to get back on serve. From that moment, Zheng's upper hand disappeared, and the Olympic gold medalist was back in the position of chasing from behind.

Serving down 6-5, 30-30, Zheng made another error of judgment by stopping play to query a Sabalenka shot that she had been able to return anyway. It was called in, handing a first set point to Sabalenka.

Afterwards, Zheng bemoaned her missed chances.

"I think in the first set I made a lot of easy mistakes," she said. "I give her the chance so easy. Of course, I think mostly I made a match lose. I think mostly it's on my hand because already I did some double fault in the first set when I'm leading with my service game. But it's tennis. There's nothing more I can do."

Zheng denied that either her record against Sabalenka or her opponent's power had been a factor.

"I think I'm just getting tight because it's the French Open quarterfinals," she said. "I think doesn't matter who I face. I will be really tight because I have so much hungry in French Open, then I think this can make my performance not best ... Today I don't even perform at 60, 70%.

"When I hit with my sparring, they are men, so for sure they will hit harder than her, so for me it's not a problem. I wish that I could do better on court, and that's it."

Hot shots can't make up for service disparity: Zheng found her most breathtaking shots of the match with her back to the wall. She saved that set point with a brilliant backhand pass down the line, and ultimately battled through two tight service games to force a first-set tiebreak.

Similarly, after going down a break for 3-2 in the second set, Zheng played one of her best games of the match -- featuring a backhand return winner with such searing pace that Sabalenka could only applaud -- to immediately break back.

Neither of those moments proved to be turning points, though. While Zheng held her own off the ground, the disparity between the two players' service numbers was too much to counteract. Sabalenka landed 65% of her first serves, compared to Zheng's 57%. On second serve, the gulf widened further. Sabalenka was able to protect her second delivery effectively -- indeed, she won a greater proportion of those points (68%) than on her first delivery (60%). By contrast, Zheng was limited to winning only 39% of her second-serve points.

This was encapsulated in the first-set tiebreak, in which Sabalenka got off the mark with a return winner and reached her second set point with an ace. And in the second set, having pegged Sabalenka back to 3-3, Zheng was undone by another double fault and a pair of cheap unforced errors.

By the final game, Zheng was out of ideas. Having led 40-0, she went down match point after hitting a volley straight back to Sabalenka; it was duly converted as a Zheng drop shot attempt missed its mark by some way.

Afterwards, Sabalenka was agnostic in terms of any particular style she prefers to face -- but admitted that there's an extra frisson when she comes up against a fellow hard-hitter such as Zheng.

"Honestly, right now in this stage of my career, I don't really care, you know?" she said. "But when it comes to the power, I like it, because then it's, like, 'OK, you want to see the power? Let me show you something.' I always take it as a challenge and as, like, 'OK, let's see who is better today.'"

Indeed, Sabalenka felt she had never played anyone with more power than her -- not even 23-time major champion Serena Williams, to whom she lost 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 in the 2021 Australian Open fourth round, their only meeting.

"I think that she wasn't really more powerful than me in that match," Sabalenka said. "Physically she was better than me, and she just put more balls back on my side than I did. I didn't really feel that she overpowered me in that game."

Rivalry resumed: Current World No. 1 Sabalenka and former World No. 1 Swiatek's rivalry has become era-defining, but they have not met in nearly 10 months -- since Sabalenka's 6-3, 6-3 victory in last August's Cincinnati semifinals. Indeed, this will only be their second encounter on the Grand Slam stage following Swiatek's 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 win in the 2022 US Open semifinals.

Overall, Swiatek leads the head-to-head 8-4, and 5-1 on clay. Sabalenka's sole win on clay came in the 2023 Madrid final 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.